I can't believe it, but TWICE this year I find myself siding with management in labor disagreements. Usually it's pretty cut-and-dried, i.e. the owners want yet more money, the players (depending on the sport) aren't getting enough. This year's hockey debacle was the first case; while I saw the players' point of view, they were way off base in their expectations. Maybe more of them should come to D.C. and see how lousy the hockey market is here, and then they'd understand what it's really like overall for hockey in America. Players in Hockeytown U.S.A. obviously have no clue what it's really like out there.
Anyway, I find myself siding with the Orioles (!) for releasing Sidney Ponson. Normally I would never side with the Orioles on anything, since I don't want to support Peter "Suck on it and like it" Angelos. But I couldn't help myself with this one:
The baseball players' association filed a grievance Thursday claiming the Baltimore Orioles improperly terminated the contract of pitcher Sidney Ponson.
The Orioles released Ponson and voided the remainder of his three-year contract on Sept. 1, a week after he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Maybe if this was the first time he'd gotten in trouble with the law, it wouldn't be a big deal. But this is what, the third arrest in less than ten months? What did Ponson and the union think was going to happen? He'd get a reward?
Ponson was making $7.5 million this season under a $22.5 million, three-year contract, meaning he was still owed about $1.3 million. He was due to be paid $10 million next year, with $3 million of his 2006 salary deferred and scheduled to be paid in equal installments on June 1, 2007, and June 1, 2008.
All right, I'll give him that- he should be entitled to some part of his contract and he'll likely get it. Why a guy should be rewarded for being an alcoholic, I don't know. But a contract is a contract.
The union claims the Orioles didn't have just cause for their actions.
Really? Have they seen Ponson's record lately?
Not only is his behavior dangerous (attacking people, driving under the influence), but it's sad. Having known a few alcoholics in my lifetime, I know how destructive the illness can be. I hope he gets the help he needs, but it doesn't look like it's going to stick any time soon. Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before you can start to dig your way out.
3 comments:
I totally agree with ya on all counts. I, too, don't normally side with ownership on these kinds of things...but the NHLPA had it ALL wrong & I found the owners to be quite compromising on their wants. Same goes for this Ponson debacle...
...idiot
I typically side with the management, especially when players and unions continue to demand increasingly exhorbanent salaries. I am all about getting paid fairly, and these players do sacrafice a tremendous amount to be successful as they become, however, when your talking millions of dollars to entertain people by playing a sport, it's a little ridiculous. Afterall, the fans are footing the cost to enjoy it.
The management is not any better.
DcLc
Sidney Ponson is an insult to all fat, drunk Arubans.
Seriously though, there is no good reason for people to be paid millions of dollars to play a sport. I'd love to see A-Rod, with his eyeliner and sissy, manicured hance, do some real work.
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